Ice adhesion to certain surfaces causes many problems. For example, excessive ice accumulation on aircraft wings endangers the plane and its passengers. Ice on ship hulls creates navigational difficulties, the expenditure of additional power to navigate through water and ice, and certain unsafe conditions. The need to scrape ice that forms on automobile windshields is regarded by most adults as a bothersome and recurring chore; and any residual ice risks driver visibility and safety.
Icing and ice adhesion also causes problems with helicopter blades, and with public roads. Billions of dollars are spent on ice and snow removal and control. Ice also adheres to metals, plastics, glasses and ceramics, creating other day-to-day difficulties.
Icing on power lines is also problematic. Icing adds weight to the power lines which causes power outages, costing billions of dollars in direct and indirect costs.
In the prior art, methods for dealing with ice adhesion vary, though most techniques involve some form of scraping, melting or breaking. For example, the aircraft industry utilizes a de-icing solution such as Ethyl Glycol to douse aircraft wings so as to melt the ice thereon. This process is both costly and environmentally hazardous; however, the risk to passenger safety warrants its use. Other aircraft utilize a rubber tube aligned along the front of the aircraft wing, whereby the tube is periodically inflated to break any ice disposed thereon. Still other aircraft redirect jet engine heat onto the wing so as to melt the ice.
These prior art methods have limitations and difficulties. First, prop-propelled aircraft do not have jet engines. Secondly, rubber tubing on the front of aircraft wings is not aerodynamically efficient. Third, de-icing costs are extremely high, at $2500-$3500 per application; and it can be applied up to about ten times per day on some aircraft!
The above-referenced problems generally derive from the propensity of ice to stick and form onto surfaces. However, ice also creates difficulties in that it has an extremely low coefficient of friction. Each year, for example, ice on the roadway causes numerous automobile accidents, costing both human life and extensive property damage. If automobile tires gripped ice more efficiently, there would likely be fewer accidents.
It is, accordingly, an object of the invention to provide systems and methods which modify ice adhesion strength beneficially.
A further object of the invention is to provide systems for reducing ice adhesion on vehicle surfaces such as aircraft wings, ship hulls and windshields to facilitate ice removal.
Still another object of the invention is to provide systems for increasing the coefficient of friction between ice-clad roads and automobile tires, and between ice and other objects such as shoe soles and cross-country skis.
These and other objects will become apparent in the description which follows.